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<br />J I, ': '0' I)'" ~ ) <br />'" IL. .. " <br />, ..... _... '.0. <br /> <br />Indian material culture reflects the mobile, big-game hunting lifestyle with tool kits generally <br />suited for animal killing and processing. Habitation structures are extremely rare, with <br />none being reported from west central Colorado. <br /> <br />Archaic Stage <br /> <br />As terminal Pleistocene environmental conditions were replaced by those more similar to <br />today's environment, the big-game hunting tradition evolved into a lifeway that focused <br />on plant collection and processing and on hunting a great variety of small fauna. This <br />lifeway endured from approximately 5500 BC to AD 500 in west central Colorado, where <br />the resources appear to have been sufficient to support a relatively large population <br />compared to both the Paleo-Indian and the subsequent Formative stages, Isolated <br />evidence of this stage has been documented within the region. <br /> <br />Formative Stage <br /> <br />The Formative stage in west central Colorado is marked by the appearance of agriculture <br />(probably horticulture in the GGRA) and the resultant establishment of a sedentary or <br />semi-sedentary Iifeway. About the time of Christ, there was an important shift in the <br />economy of the inhabitants of the region that has been documented by scattered <br />evidence of cultigens, masonry structures. and ceramics. Well-known traditions, such as <br />the Anasazi in southwestern Colorado and the Fremont of Utah and northwestern <br />Colorado, flourished in areas where there was the appropriate combination of reliable <br />water and arable land. There is nothing in the National Monument or the GGRA that <br />indicates true Formative occupation. <br /> <br />Proto Historic/Historic Stage <br /> <br />Following the disappearance of the Formative stage for reasons that remain unclear, a <br />highly mobile, Archaic-style lifeway reappeared in west central and mountainous Colorado <br />with hunting and gathering again forming the subsistence base. This time period between <br />AD 1200 and the appearance of what can definitely be called the Ute tradition is <br />documented by only one site in west central Colorado (Reed 1984), which is located in <br />the Ridgeway Reservoir project southwest of the study area. <br /> <br />The Ute are believed to have entered this region sometime between AD 1200 and 1400, <br />based on linguistic and archeological evidence. However, the earliest firm evidence of <br />Ute occupation is AD 1490, from a site in Curecanti Recreation Area. The first Euro- <br />American observation of the Utes was during the 1776 Dominguez-Escalante expedition <br />just to the west of the GGRA. <br /> <br />Euro-American Stage <br /> <br />The 1776 Dominguez-Escalante expedition heralded Euro-American movement into the <br />area, although use became intense only after the 1850s' gold rush. The Black Canyon <br />of the Gunnison was discovered by two trappers in 1809 (Schroeder 1953). Permanent <br />settlement came in the form of two forts: Fort Roubideau near Delta and Fort <br /> <br />13 <br />